Bruce S. Kershner Art Gallery Reception: "The Dark of Light"

The Bruce S. Kershner Art Gallery Committee invites the public to a reception for its latest exhibit, The Dark of Light, on Thursday, October 10, from 5:30-7:30pm at Main Library.  The show features the work of Ralph Barkin, Clinton Deckert, and Suzanna Schlemm and will take place in the Kershner Gallery.  The artists will speak at 6:00pm; light refreshments will be served.  The Dark of Light will be on display from October 5 - November 30, 2024.

Ralph Barkin is a self-taught photographer who works mostly in black and white except when doing infrared photos, which is what he shows at juried exhibitions and mostly what he is exhibiting in the Kershner Gallery.  Ralph says, "At the heart of my work is a fascination with the way that light shapes our perceptions of the world... By using infrared photography to capture light that is beyond the range of human vision, I hope to challenge viewers to see the world in a new and unexpected way."

Clinton Deckert is an award-winning artist from Southington, CT, who creates paintings and assemblages of found objects.  His work is in the permanent collection of the New Britain Museum of American Art, the University of Connecticut, and other locations.  Clinton states, "I have always been curious to explore what lurks just beneath the water's surface, or what's living under the log. My approach to painting is an extension of that early curiosity."

Suzanna Schlemm is originally from Brazil and started her career as an advertising copywriter.  In 2001 she moved to New York City to pursue her lifelong interest in painting, becoming a full-time student at the New York Studio School, and she and her family settled in Darien in 2018.  She is a Guild member of the Silvermine Art Center in New Canaan and has shown her work in various exhibitions in both Connecticut and New York.  Suzanna says, "My paintings tell the story of an imaginary tribe of women, deeply intertwined with nature and the animals that share the land with them, especially birds...My imagery comes to me mysteriously and effortlessly as if channeled from a land that actually exists and where I have been finding a familiar sense of quietness and protection since I was a child."